Jacob de Jager

First Quorum of the Seventy (April 3, 1976 – October 3, 1993)

General Conference Addresses

• October 1993 General Conference
  • Service and Happiness
    • “I am still as happy as when I was called to the Quorum, and, in good western American tradition, I will now ride off into the sunset. But I know there is a loving priesthood leader waiting at the roadside to call me, under inspiration, to another meaningful calling.”
    • “My first calling in the Church, three days after my baptism in Toronto, Canada, was to be in charge of the hymnbooks in the ward. I really would not mind at all to quickly go back to the hymnbooks again, because I can truly testify that this is a church of workers and not a museum of Saints. Those who think differently have not fully understood the real purpose of the divine organization to which we all belong.”
    • “How blessed are we to be part of a rapidly expanding church that teaches beauty, hope, cheer, courage, faith, and happiness that enable us to stay young at heart through faithful service in whatever calling we may have.”
• April 1991 General Conference
  • Change
    • “The old saying “Change is progress” then takes on a special meaning for all of us—because repentance is change, conversion is change, perfecting is change. All this is in complete harmony with the desires of our Heavenly Father and the loving pleadings of the Redeemer.”
    • “Brethren, we have to do better, individually and collectively, to strengthen the priesthood base of the Church, to prepare ourselves to carry out our mandate in the next century, which may well show the most significant change in the history of mankind: The change of human hearts everywhere, the true conversion of people in ever-increasing numbers, the rolling forth of the kingdom unto the ends of the earth “as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth.” (D&C 65:2.)”
• April 1986 General Conference
  • The Greatest News of All Times Is That Jesus Lives
    • “I would like, therefore, to share with you a few thoughts on the medical term logokophosis, which literally means “word deafness” or, in an extended gospel meaning, “the inability to hear or understand spoken directions.””
    • “The scriptures are replete with directions spoken by holy prophets in all dispensations because “the voice of the Lord is unto the ends of the earth, that all that will hear may hear.” (D&C 1:11.) Yet time and again we have to be asked to be better listeners. President Marion G. Romney sometimes wonders out loud, “How many tellings does it take—how many repetitions of counsel? How many individual corrections must be given?””
    • “As parents may pose these questions to their children, Heavenly Father may also wonder the same about his sons and daughters. How many of us turn a deaf ear to the admonitions from our modern-day prophets and stay passive, uninvolved, as when we half-listen to the radio?”
    • “We all know the hymn “Come, Listen to a Prophet’s Voice.” (Hymns, 1985, no. 21.) Why then do some suffer so badly from logokophosis, the inability to hear or understand? And I am of course not referring to those among us who have physically impaired hearing. We often find among them the most faithful members of the Church.”
    • “I have come to the realization that the restored gospel plays a single tune for all the world to hear, and I know that the time will come when all the world will eagerly respond to that tune. Then, and only then, differences between nations and peoples will disappear, and the world will be one, when the Savior returns to rule and reign for a thousand years.”
• April 1983 General Conference
  • Climbing to Higher Spirituality
    • “Just as gas is necessary to fill a balloon to push it upward, so must the individual be filled with inner motivation in order to move upward. Just as the balloon can rise higher by throwing ballast overboard, so must a person be willing to rid himself of unnecessary ballast that limits his rise in spirituality.”
    • “For those of you who do not know what the word patience really means, I offer a simple definition: Patience is learning to hide your impatience.”
• April 1981 General Conference
  • We Are Called to Spread the Light
    • “As the work continues to expand into the many nations of the earth, there will be an increasing need for couples to serve as full-time missionaries. In addition to their basic assignment of teaching the gospel, they may be assigned to perform additional functions.”
    • “I testify, as a convert to the Church, that no greater joy can come to men than being involved in carrying the gospel to all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.”
• October 1978 General Conference
  • Let There Be No Misunderstanding
    • “I testify that the priesthood of God has been restored to the earth and that a daily growing number of priesthood holders are willing to serve as coservants of the Lord. With this Priesthood we serve best when we serve those who need us most!”
    • “Therefore, let us go forward with great determination, in a spirit of love and unity. That is our best source of motivation—to do the work with all our might, mind, and strength, and make people really happy.”
• October 1976 General Conference
  • You Never Know Who You May Save
    • “Living and working in Hong Kong have given us great joy and happiness, and I can truly and humbly say that I love my full-time Church work more than any other work that I have ever done before.”
    • “My dear brothers and sisters, many of us have or will soon have nineteen-year-old sons. Their names may be George or Juan Pedro, Guillaume or Heinrich, Paavo or Sing Tong, depending on the country they live in, but let Hans be their example. Let them join the rescue team of missionary workers. You never know whom they will save! It may be the one that on life’s billows is tempest tossed or it may even be the one that had been reported missing at life’s sea. And when someone is saved through their rescue mission, oh how great shall be their joy with him or her in the kingdom of our Father.”
• April 1976 General Conference
  • Shout It from the Rooftops
    • “Because since the first day the missionaries knocked on my door in Holland; since the baptism of Sister de Jager and myself in Toronto, Canada, where we then resided; since I had the great privilege of baptizing by the power of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood my own son and daughter; since our marriage for time and eternity in the Swiss Temple and having our children sealed to us, our happiness and joy in the kingdom have grown and grown and grown.”
    • “I testify in great joy and in all humbleness to all of you assembled here that the mission of our son, ten thousand miles away from home, has brought him closer to us than ever before; that we at home share in the blessings he receives from the Lord, for his faithfulness and diligence in the work; and that we are a happier family because of it.”
    • “We are happy with the sure knowledge that the Lord has placed us on this earth as part of his great plan of salvation. That is, brethren, what brings happiness to us.”

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